FBI Director says he’s staying in his post as questions swirl over Russia

Posted: 12:04 pm Wednesday, March 8th, 2017

By Jamie Dupree

In the midst of a continuing political fight over links between Russia and the campaign of President Donald Trump, FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday publicly said he has no plans to leave his post before his ten year term runs out.

“You’re stuck with me for about another six and a half years,” the FBI Director said to a cyber security conference in Boston.

Comey was confirmed by the Senate in the summer of 2013 – unless he leaves on his own, or is fired – his term would end in early September of 2023.

FBI's Comey says intends to fulfill his ten-year term as head of bureau: 'You’re stuck with me for another 6 ½ years' he tells BC conference

The FBI chief did not take questions from reporters at his speech, but made clear to those in attendance, he was not going to weigh in on anything that was off subject – like Russia.

“You can ask me about anything, I’m very slippery – I’ll avoid talking about things I don’t want to talk about,” Comey said to chuckles in the room.

The FBI Director has seemingly used that same type of approach behind closed doors in recent meetings with the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, refusing to answer certain queries from lawmakers.

A few hours after Comey’s remarks, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee asked for a briefing from the FBI chief on the explosive accusation by President Trump, that he had been subjected to surveillance in 2016 by President Obama.

In a letter from panel chairman Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-VA), GOP lawmakers said they want to hear from the FBI not only on the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 elections, but also the “very serious allegations that the President and/or his associates were or are under surveillance.

That was not the only development on the President’s claim that he was wiretapped by the Obama Administration, as two U.S. Senators sent a letter to the Department of Justice and FBI Director asking for evidence about that explosive charge.

JUST IN: Sens Graham & Whitehouse ask FBI for copies of warrants"related to wiretaps of President Trump, the Trump Campaign, or Trump Tower" pic.twitter.com/9nDfTdntOV

Comey has still not publicly commented the issue; there were press reports last weekend that he had asked the White House to clarify the President’s wiretap claim.

At the White House this afternoon, Presidential spokesman Sean Spicer again did not directly answer questions from reporters about the claim by Mr. Trump, as Spicer roundly attacked reports about links between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia.

“It is interesting how often this fake narrative gets repeated over and over again,” Spicer said of stories about Trump links to Russia.